There can be a lot, and it can be overwhelming. I'd advise you to focus on one aspect of practice at first. I, for example, chose to focus on sila for a few years after being bogged down in sutta study. I recently shifted my focus back to vipassana.

I'd advise you to first mindfully uphold the precepts, try to develop the brahmaviharas and consider the wider consequences of your everyday choices before diving into anything deeper. You need a still, calm mind, and ethical perturbations don't help.

anthbrown84 wrote:Hello guys,
when i focus on the basics and really simplify my practise i feel like im missing out on so much...

This is very good! That feeling like you are missing something is grasping and clinging. If you continue to focus on the basics and when this feeling arises it is a wonderful opportunity to directly observe your very own grasping and clinging. This is truly an opportunity for you. When this feeling arises be sensitive to where it comes from and why it happens. To help you along with this I recommend doing some daily study about grasping and clinging (the clinging aggregates for example) and about the ideas about the not-self doctrine (feelings are not really who you are for example). It can get really complicated and will probably take quite awhile to unravel these mysteries so keep focusing on the basics while you learn about this core construct and as you learn you will figure out ways to modify your practice to keep up with your new found knowledge......there is no reason that I know of for you to try to make your practice go beyond what you understand.
chownah
P.S. Let me repeat: there is no reason that I know of for you to try to make your practice go beyond what you understand.
chownah

My suggestion would be to use the Noble Eightfold Path as your anchor, and that if you ever experience dukkha in the present moment, take a look at what view, habit or response is causing it to come forth.

All the best.

Metta,
Retro.

"The uprooting of identity is seen by the noble ones as pleasurable; but this contradicts what the whole world sees." (Snp 3.12)

"It is natural that one who knows and sees things as they really are is disenchanted and dispassionate." (AN 10.2)

“Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” (Flannery O'Connor)

when i focus on the basics and really simplify my practise i feel like im missing out on so much...

being relatively new to Buddhism and a westener, has anyone got any advice on what is a good level of practice, what should i be doing daily?

You should read more theoretical Dhamma and try to remember everything you've read. Once you've got the full picture, you will see what to do and how. Unless you don't understand what dhamma aspect is to be practised now and then - you will be lost all the time.

If you've ever learned how to play an instrument then you know that when it comes to learning a skill, it's best to start with the basics. How long did it take you to learn how to walk? Did you start off by learning how to sprint, or by learning how to balance?

If you have become skilled at a craft or an instrument or a sport or whatever, it's easy to relate the development of that skill to the development of the skill of the Path. For novice guitarists, it's amazing that anybody could even play a chord without serious discomfort. For intermediate guitarists, it's amazing that Hendrix could play with such amazing skill. For advanced guitarists, it's usually not as impressive. The key here is that the advanced guitarist started off as the beginner and only became advanced through daily, disciplined practice.

If you're new to the practice then the most fundamental things are watching over your ethical conduct and developing generosity and metta.

This talk outlines why generosity comes first and foremost in the practice:

The world is swept away. It does not endure...
The world is without shelter, without protector...
The world is without ownership. One has to pass on, leaving everything behind...
The world is insufficient, insatiable, a slave to craving.

i have a dilemma in my life, when i try to keep my practise busy and take in loads of information about the Dhamma, i feel like im lost in it all and forget the basics...

when i focus on the basics and really simplify my practise i feel like im missing out on so much...

being relatively new to Buddhism and a westener, has anyone got any advice on what is a good level of practice, what should i be doing daily?

Hi
Focus on topics such as Gratitude, Morality, Meditation, or The Four Noble Truths. and don't overdo the studying. a good beginning ration is for every hour of meditation do 40 minutes of study, but do not try to do more than you meditate.
Kind Regards
Cittasanto

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.John Stuart Mill

Hi, I agree with you, this practice can be overwhelming sometimes. When I feel confused or unsure what I should focus on, I use the list below to help remind myself of all the different aspects there are to practice and then choose one area to focus on; usually something I'm having difficulty with.

I tend not to go too far from the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, to be honest.

Ajahn Sumedho says in his book on the Four Noble Truths,

Within the Buddhist world, there are not many Buddhists who use the Four Noble
Truths anymore, even in Thailand. People say, ‘Oh yes, the Four Noble Truths –
beginner’s stuff.’ Then they might use all kinds of vipassanà techniques and become
really obsessed with the sixteen stages before they get to the Noble Truths. I find it quite
boggling that in the Buddhist world the really profound teaching has been dismissed as
primitive Buddhism: ‘That’s for the little kids, the beginners. The advanced course is...’
They go into complicated theories and ideas – forgetting the most profound teaching.

The Four Noble Truths are a lifetime’s reflection. It is not just a matter of realising
the Four Noble Truths, the three aspects, and twelve stages and becoming an arahant
on one retreat and then going onto something advanced. The Four Noble Truths are not
easy like that. They require an ongoing attitude of vigilance and they provide the
context for a lifetime of examination

JadeRabbit wrote:
I tend not to go too far from the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, to be honest.

Ajahn Sumedho says in his book on the Four Noble Truths,

Within the Buddhist world, there are not many Buddhists who use the Four Noble
Truths anymore, even in Thailand. People say, ‘Oh yes, the Four Noble Truths –
beginner’s stuff.’ Then they might use all kinds of vipassanà techniques and become
really obsessed with the sixteen stages before they get to the Noble Truths. I find it quite
boggling that in the Buddhist world the really profound teaching has been dismissed as
primitive Buddhism: ‘That’s for the little kids, the beginners. The advanced course is...’
They go into complicated theories and ideas – forgetting the most profound teaching.

The Four Noble Truths are a lifetime’s reflection. It is not just a matter of realising
the Four Noble Truths, the three aspects, and twelve stages and becoming an arahant
on one retreat and then going onto something advanced. The Four Noble Truths are not
easy like that. They require an ongoing attitude of vigilance and they provide the
context for a lifetime of examination

I previously went to many talks & courses with another tradition and only remember the 4NT being briefly mentioned once, when in fact its an extremely important teaching which can be contemplated on a regular basis.

i have a dilemma in my life, when i try to keep my practise busy and take in loads of information about the Dhamma, i feel like im lost in it all and forget the basics...

when i focus on the basics and really simplify my practise i feel like im missing out on so much...

being relatively new to Buddhism and a westener, has anyone got any advice on what is a good level of practice, what should i be doing daily?

Keep it simple. Take refuge, follow the precepts. Practice Dāna, cultivate wholesome mental culture with meditation, investigate the teachings. But my advice is to study just enough to illuminate what you are doing and why. And as you progress, study more. It's a gradual training.
Kind regards,
Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

i have a dilemma in my life, when i try to keep my practise busy and take in loads of information about the Dhamma, i feel like im lost in it all and forget the basics...

when i focus on the basics and really simplify my practise i feel like im missing out on so much...

being relatively new to Buddhism and a westener, has anyone got any advice on what is a good level of practice, what should i be doing daily?

Keep it simple. Take refuge, follow the precepts. Practice Dāna, cultivate wholesome mental culture with meditation, investigate the teachings. But my advice is to study just enough to illuminate what you are doing and why. And as you progress, study more. It's a gradual training.
Kind regards,
Ben

This is the best advice ever...

To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
-Dhp. 183

i have a dilemma in my life, when i try to keep my practise busy and take in loads of information about the Dhamma, i feel like im lost in it all and forget the basics...

when i focus on the basics and really simplify my practise i feel like im missing out on so much...

being relatively new to Buddhism and a westener, has anyone got any advice on what is a good level of practice, what should i be doing daily?

First of all, my first suggestion is do not take loads of information about the dhamma at once.
It will only make your mind roaming.
Learning a dhamma isn't a simple things take things slowly and one at a time. What is more important is that you must take these simple information seriously and to the heart and most of all learn the true meaning behind the basics.
That's all I can say for now.